Sanjay Khurana, '81B4A3 from BITS Pilani is nominated for 'Asian Heritage Award' in the cateogory of "Excellence in Entrepreneurship". He is the CEO of Khurana Holdings Corporation and has a proven track record of success over 20 years. His venture Bombay Bazaar is a supermarket that specializes in Indian and South Asian groceries, house wares and DVDs which is currently considered as one of the top 5 Indian grocers on the West Coast. Their mantra of success lies in their motto: 'Service, selection and satisfaction'. In the past, Sanjay handled top positions in several leading firms before he started with Bombay Bazaar.

Asian Heritage Awards aim to identify and appreciate the individuals who have shown excellence in diverse fields. The nominees are educators, doctors, lawyers, scientists, artists, corporate leaders, community activists, journalists, engineers, writers, philosophers, scientists, singers, playwrights and pioneers of every kind.The selection is based on a voting procedure.

List of Nominees can be found here.

Links: Vote Here. Please be patient since you will have to vote for all categories to submit your form.

Lets show our BITSian spirit...give our support…and…help Sanjay win the title…

The Indian Civil Services is considered as the backbone of India and carries great respect and responsibilities. Even though corporate jobs offer lucrative salaries with incentives, a majority of youngsters still compete and crave entry into the prestigious Indian Civil Services held by the UPSC. The very fact that a big share of every year's top posts in the UPSC exams are bagged by professionals from various streams shows the IAS is still the dream job of many – BITSians are no exceptions :)

Below is the list of BITSian UPSC rank holders for 2009 –

• 40 - KARTIKEYA MISRA
• 62 - MALA SRIVASTAVA
• 294 - ERANKI VENKATA BHASKAR
• 323 - LAKSHMI NARAYANAN R
• 429 - VINAY KUMAR KANTHETI
• 464 - PRAVEEN S
• 575 - K V S R K KISHORE
• 667 - LAYA MADDURI
• 676 - M PADMA

Announcement to future aspirants - "bits-to-ias" google group initiative was started by S.Nagarajan (AIR-1 in 2004) which addresses all the queries related to preparation, choice of subjects and other miscellaneous topics related to civil services. So, we sincerely urge all the aspirants to make best use of this forum to get their strategy worked out with the help of BITSian-Officers in service and fellow BITSian-aspirants. Incase, you are not an aspirant - please spread a word about this group among your peers, so that maximum potential can be leveraged in long run.

We interacted with Kartikeya (K) and Bhaskar (B) for general suggestions and these were few pointers they shared -

• B:-"I hope BITS-Pilani like the IITs, will be well known for providing the best Officers/Policy-Makers/Administrators of India. Infact, I believe that, the tremendous experience it is to be a BITSian is itself a great raw material for bringing out a good civil service officer out of oneself...I owe my success largely to my experience at BITS...and I hope there will be many more people to follow and stand as a testimony to my belief!"
• K: - "In my opinion a good prep of about 3 months is sufficient for prelims and another 3/4 for mains. Please get the motivation right, follow few books but follow them well, do not fall for rumors and plan well. This was my first and in all probability last attempt, the result just goes to show that provided the right planning and efficient execution, this exam is like any other exam"

BITS Pilani alum Dr. Ashok Malhotra, a member of the SUNY-Oneonta Philosophy Department since 1967, received the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1994 and was promoted to the rank of SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor in 2001. Ashok was invited recently (September 25-28, 2008) to the Democratic National Convention in Denver, he shared his experiences with Sandpaper 2.0, Spring 2009.

Ashok Malhotra is the driving force behind Ninash Foundation, an organization with an aim to - "mitigate suffering for the socially and economically disadvantaged; provide educational funding to promote literacy among children and adults; assist the cultural community within US and abroad by providing funding relating to artistic education."

Ashok shares the following with the BITSian community. -

"While visiting the Ninash Foundation's four Indo-International Schools during December 2008-January 2009, I received the most heartwarming news that two of our underprivileged children had been accepted into a college of their choice. There were tears in our eyes and joy in our hearts because these same children, thirteen years ago, were picking up cow dung as their livelihood, and now they were able to attend college. While this may not be earth-shattering news for those living in the West, for these students it was a miracle of great achievement because by attending college and earning a degree they would be able to break the age-old caste barrier. Moreover, they would have an excellent chance of being accepted as equals while taking advantage of the booming economy of India.

The Ninash Foundation's goal is to first achieve 100% literacy in the villages where these schools are located and then adopt this model for rest of India. We believe in the slogans "Each One Teach One" and "Yes, We Can." In India, if the 700 million literate people follow these slogans they can teach the remaining 400 million illiterate people. Thus, India could eventually achieve 100% literacy. Though this may appear to be a monumental ambition, it can be realized.

Appeal: In this exciting venture of spreading literacy among the underprivileged, we are appealing to generous supporters like you to contribute $100, $200, $500, $1000 or more towards our goal of $250,000. No amount is ever too small because many drops of different sizes fill a bucket of water. Your generous contribution will give the gift of literacy to the needy and save them from becoming the "slumdog" children.

Your tax deductible contributions can be sent to the Ninash Foundation, 17 Center Street, Oneonta, NY 13820, USA.

Links: To Donate online, please visit - http://www.ninash.org

Mr Arvind Mathew, ex-Managing Director and President of Ford India is set to join Suzlon Energy. Mr Mathew, who quit Ford Motor Company in January 2009, is believed to be joining the wind turbine manufacturer at its headquarters in Pune, to oversee its manufacturing operations.

A mechanical engineer from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani (1977-1982), Arvind completed his MS in mechanical engineering and MBA from the University of Michigan.

With his vast international experience and expertise in new vehicle programs, Arvind steered the aggressive growth phase of Ford India. In his previous roles, as Vice President for Manufacturing and Supply at Ford India, Arvind was instrumental in development of new vehicle and powertrain programs. In addition, he played a prominent role in building a robust supplier base for localization programs and also promoted exports from the country. Arvind held a range of engineering, product planning, and new product implementation positions in North America, Germany, Spain, Turkey, and the U.K. He played key roles in Ford and Mazda vehicle programs. Arvind joined Ford Motor Company in 1990 as a Business Planning Analyst and was associated with them for nearly 20 years.

Leveraging on his earlier experience in manufacturing operations at various Ford plants, industry sources raved 50-year-old Mr Mathew and expect him to succeed in integrating various manufacturing plants of Suzlon Energy, the largest wind turbine manufacturer in India and the fifth largest in the world.

Profile: LinkedIn

Prithviraj Chavan retained the Minister of State in the Prime Minister Office, 2009. Prithviraj Chavan got two more ministries with independent charge - Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, which were earlier handled by a Cabinet minister. He also retained charge of Ministry of Personnel, Public grievances and Pensions. Chavan is also Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs.

His earlier success motivated two young BITSians – Sarat Babu and Ashok Vardhan Rao who were seen contesting for the first time from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh respectively in 2009.

"My first love is science and technology but work in the PMO [Prime Minister's Office] is important", says Chavan, when he was asked to rank in terms of importance the five ministries entrusted to him. Minister Chavan graduated from BITS with an Electrical & Electronics degree. He pursued higher studies at the University of California, Berkeley and spent some time working in the field of aircraft instrumentation and designing audio recorders for anti-submarine warfare in the US before returning to the rough and tumble of domestic politics.

He made his first move in the new government and promised that Right to Information Act (RTI) will be improved in India.

Links: Biodata

Madhu Kannan, ex-Managing Director, Bank of America–Merrill Lynch based in New York is appointed as the new MD and CEO of the Bombay Stock Exchange. Madhu completed his BE (Hons.) in Electrical & Electronics Engineering along with M.Sc (Hons.) in Economics from BITS Pilani prior to earning an MBA in Finance from Vanderbilt University, USA.

On his appointment, Kannan said: "I am honored and excited to have the opportunity to lead the Bombay Stock Exchange in the new global financial era. The exchange has been the centre of Indian Financial Markets since 1875 and I look forward to ensure that the BSE continues create value for its stakeholders and the financial system."

In the past, Madhu held various senior roles across businesses at the NYSE Euronext. He was nominated as a Young Global Leader in 2007 by the World Economic Forum (WEF) based in Geneva, Switzerland. Madhu was also the highest ranking Indian on NYSE earlier.

BITS fraternity wishes Madhu Kannan the very best, in his new journey to ensure BSE builds on its brand, history and market position in the new global economic situation.

Sree Balaji, 1995 graduate from BITS Pilani went on to pursue double Masters in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Computer Science from Auburn University. Sree is the Founder and CEO of iLink Systems, an ISO certified global software solutions provider and Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. Sree has overall responsibility for strategy, vision and performance of iLink Systems. His specialties include business ventures, business transformation, and best practices in the Healthcare and eCommerce verticals.

Sree is passionate about evangelizing technology solutions to solve business needs. He has over 10 years of experience in architecting web applications with companies like drugstore.com and Lumedx. He is also a regular invited speaker on various Microsoft Technologies at different conferences.

iLink Systems recently sponsored the Microsoft Developer Conference held at New York during May 5 and 6, 2009. At this event, Sree Balaji presented some innovative collaboration and workflow solutions that transformed businesses by improving productivity, delivering solutions on time and under budget. The event provided developers, architects and key business decision makers in large enterprise organizations a clear roadmap of the Microsoft Application Platform.

Profile : LinkedIn

Dr. A. Srinivasa Rao, Ph.D. (BITS, Pilani) (ID: PHXF0042001) is currently the Program Director, Centre for Executive Education at ISB Hyderabad.

Many B-Schools in India and abroad are targeting women entrepreneurship programs. Dr Srinivasa Rao is the Program Director for 'Goldman Sachs 10000 Women Entrepreneurs Certificate Program' from India. The objective of the project is to train 10000 Women entrepreneurs globally. The program has an academic association with ISB, Hyderabad. Women, who are either undeserved or in growth phases of their businesses are gaining from this CSR initiative.

In India, the project developed 60 women entrepreneurs till date from two locations (Hyderabad and Bangalore). This is being planned to be extended to other locations of India in the coming years.

Srinivasa was recently invited from India for the 'Global Leadership Conference' to be held at Goldman Sachs Conference Center, Broad Street, New York during July 2009 to share his experiences / best practices on women entrepreneurship development in India.

Renuka Parlapalli, BITSian of 2001 batch (Electronics & Instrumentation) received the "Outstanding Biomedical Engineering Student" award from Dean, College of Engineering, University of Texas, Arlington. Students from both Master's and PhD compete for this award. Renuka was chosen among 120 potential applicants this year.

Her interest in applying electronics to the human body triggered through the medical instrumentation course in BITS Pilani. She later worked on medical imaging space, simulating the circulatory system and imaging with nano particles. This is what the bio-electronics enthusiast has to say –"I believe having a wide range of electives to choose from in BITS curriculum in addition to the opportunity of being able to work with people in different disciplines - Electronics and Biology helped me in integrating ideas and seeing practical applicability of electronics to medicine."

Her stint at Johns Hopkins University further propelled her interest in this domain. She currently works for Texas Instruments as a Systems and Applications Engineer trying to come up with programmable DSP solutions for various medical Imaging modalities.

Every BITSian has an anecdote that he/she can relate to when we talk of BITS and cricket together. Most of us wistfully reminisce about cricket at BITS played either in the QT, MedC, GymG, C lawns or in the wing ! BITSians have been maintaining equal passion for the sport while they are in USA too.

Srinivasa Raghavan more commonly known as "State" for being a member of the Tamil Nadu State Cricket Team is currently playing for NWCL (Northwest Cricket League) comprising of 14 players, selected across 15 different teams in the league. His team has won North West Regional Championship twice in a row ! Srinivasa has been playing for NWCL and the USA NW region for the last couple of years. His association with NWCL began when he was interning with Microsoft during summer of 2007 which continued on his return to Virginia Tech after the internship.

Few memorable moments of this all-rounder in the US are his best batting performance (96), a bowling spell where he bagged 4 wickets. He is currently working in IBM, Portland and regularly cherishes cricket over the weekends.

Srikanth Sundaragopalan(Uleri), another BITSian from Class of 2001 has been playing for USA NW region for the past 4 years. Srikanth works for Microsoft Corporation informed that umpteen number of BITSians are playing in the Microsoft Cricket Club, Seattle.

Srikanth and State feel that there is healthy competition and the standard of cricket is very good at the higher levels especially in the North West Regional Championship tournament and the Western conference Championship.

Is it really a bad idea to kick off a talk on the formation of BITSAA USA Cricket Team ??? - Don't think so :)